1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of the present invention relates to a temperature sensor mounting unit for mounting, for example, a temperature sensor for measuring an internal temperature in a battery of an electric vehicle or a temperature of a coolant for an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, because of environmental issues, much attention is drawn to electric vehicles which employ electric motors as drive sources and hybrid vehicles which employ an internal combustion engine and electric motors as drive sources. In these types of vehicles, a battery is required to supply electric power to the electric motors.
When the internal temperature of the battery increases, there may be a case where the output of the electric motors is affected. Because of this, a temperature sensor for measuring the internal temperature of the battery may be mounted on an exterior casing of the battery.
In addition, for example, the temperature sensor may be mounted on a circumferential wall of a coolant supply pipe as a mounting-target member in order to measure the temperature of the coolant for the internal combustion engine.
JP-2005-227027-A discloses a temperature sensor accommodation mechanism including a cylindrical accommodation bush which provided on an outer circumference of a pipe having a cooling medium passage and a temperature sensor which is mounted concentrically in the accommodation bush and is disposed in such a manner that a distal end portion of the temperature sensor projects from an inner circumferential surface of the pipe, wherein a claw is formed on an outer circumference of the temperature sensor and an opening with which the claw is brought into engagement is formed in a cylindrical wall of the accommodation bush. The claw of the temperature sensor is brought into engagement with the opening in the accommodation bush, whereby the temperature sensor is mounted to the accommodation bush.
In the mounting unit disclosed in JP-2005-227027-A, he accommodation bush is provided on the outer circumference of the pipe (the mounting-target member) where the temperature sensor is to be mounted, and the opening with which the claw of the temperature sensor is brought into engagement needs to be provided in the circumferential surface of the accommodation bush, whereby the complicated construction on the mounting-target member is required.
In addition, in the aforesaid mechanism, since the claw of the temperature sensor comes into engagement with the opening in the accommodation bush, the mounting position of the temperature sensor relative to the accommodation bush is determined, and when the circumferential wall of the pipe is thick, the projecting amount of the distal end portion of the temperature sensor relative to the inner circumference of the pipe becomes small, whereas when the circumferential wall of the pie is thin, the projecting amount of the distal end of the temperature sensor becomes large. As a result, when this mounting mechanism is used to mount the temperature sensor on the mounting-target member and internal components are disposed thereinside, since the projecting amount of the temperature sensor varies in accordance with the thickness of the mounting-target member, the temperature sensor might interfere with the internal components of the mounting-target member, and measured values might vary largely because the position of the temperature sensor is not determined.